Aidan O'Shea thinks GAA should be creative if play returns this year

If there are inter-county games this year, the GAA don’t plan on staging them before October

Usually confined to a more niche audience in this part of the world, the Bundesliga has brought much sporting respite to many of late, Aidan O’Shea included.

Up to March, if there was a significant sporting event taking place somewhere that you wanted to see badly enough, the chances are that you could access it somehow or other on your television, laptop or tablet. And then, all of a sudden, there was nothing.

The broadcasting vacuum has largely been filled by re-runs and O’Shea’s ‘Toughest Trade’ experience in the NFL is to get another airing on Virgin Media on June 8.

The German league’s resumption, albeit without fans, has been pioneering in terms of elite sport and its example will filter down amongst other countries and codes as they plot their own return, the GAA included.

"I watched a bit of the Bundesliga, Jesus I will never complain about there not being too much sport on the TV ever again,” O’Shea smiled.

“It's a bit surreal, let's call it what it is, a bit weird hearing all the chatter from the benches and from the players and when the Premier League comes back we'll be able to understand what they are saying, it will be interesting.”

And what about that in a GAA setting?

"I thought about it and if it's an absolute, we have to play behind closed doors, I would love to play.

“It flies in the face of the GAA and what we are about, we're not a professional organisation, the whole idea is that it is a community-based game, people go and see their team, they go and support them, they travel.

“I know it's different times and maybe this is the new normal for a while but I would be of the opinion that we should be playing in front of supporters.

“But, again, maybe the hands are tied on this one, that there is a happy medium playing behind closed doors and giving people an outlet to watch on TV is that happy medium.

“People would love to see sport back in some capacity. As a player, if we can do that, and it brings a bit of joy back to people in their houses, absolutely I'd be up for it.”

If there are inter-county games this year, the GAA don’t plan on staging them before October though the Mayo star is supportive of a knockout format.

“I think we should be creative. There are opportunities there if we need to limit the amount of games. Because of social distancing, if you limit the amount of games and you go straight knockout, it would be very exciting and there is pressure on every game then.”

The Breaffy man was strong in his conviction when speaking on the Late Late Show earlier this month that GAA activity should resume with the club but he acknowledges that there are pitfalls there too.

“If we have a local derby here with the club and people are so hungry for sport, you'll see crowds that you'd probably never see at a club game.

“If we were playing Castlebar in a knockout championship game in August, there is nothing to suggest that you wouldn't have 2,000-3,000 people at it, and then how you manage that from a club perspective, I don't know. We have players living in Dublin, they are going to be travelling back the country.”

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And if none of it proves workable, O’Shea will quickly make peace with that too.

“I think what's more important is we're talking about saving people's lives here. If there's the decision to make I'm pretty ok with missing a couple of Championship games.

“I think that's the greater cause than anything else. Yeah, I know, obviously you'd be gutted to miss a Championship year but that's the space we're in and we just have to wait and see.”

On the other side of all of this, O’Shea doesn’t foresee a notable reduction in the time being poured into inter-county activity as a result of the shutdown.

An ESRI report published in 2018 found that inter-county players are devoting 31 hours a week to the game, which some hope may be pared back post-coronavirus as people take stock of their lives during these months of inactivity.

But O’Shea said: “Stories I’m hearing of what some teams are doing, especially from November through to January… I know we don’t do it and I’m sure Dublin or Kerry don’t do it.

“It seems to be that middle ground where they’re trying to catch up or have a big League campaign and spending an awful lot of time together.

“I think we’re smart enough with our time in Mayo. We would’ve been using Zoom before so we don’t have to come together.

“In terms of training, you’re there at six, you’re getting home at 10 – that’s not going to change. That’s just the length of time a training session takes now in terms of getting in there, eat, prep, recover, then home. I don’t see that changing.

“The time around it, a lot of it is your own preparation, whether it’s your diet or recovery.

“There’s probably an argument to say 31 hours is too long, I’ve seen people quoted to say it is and maybe it is.

“Maybe that number could be revised down, how you manage it though I really don’t know because it’s going to change from manager to manager, county to county.”